Options

Using "dash" character in labels

bcharnybcharny Registered Users Posts: 2 Beginner grinner
edited November 1, 2013 in SmugMug Support
Is there a way to use the "dash" character in labels for photos, maybe with an escape character?

Whenever I type it in, it gets removed and the new label just merges the two words. It also happens when I import the keywords from Lightroom (which allows the "dash").

Help or pointers would be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

Comments

  • Options
    phototristanphototristan Registered Users Posts: 199 Major grins
    edited October 31, 2013
    Hi,

    If you use a dash, the keyword system will treat the words around the dash as individual keywords. Please see the following link for more info.:

    http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93291-how-do-keywords-work-in-search-


    Best Regards,
    Tristan
    Suport Hero
    Smugmug
    http://help.smugmug.com/
  • Options
    WinsomeWorksWinsomeWorks Registered Users Posts: 1,935 Major grins
    edited October 31, 2013
    Hi,

    If you use a dash, the keyword system will treat the words around the dash as individual keywords. Please see the following link for more info.:

    http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93291-how-do-keywords-work-in-search-


    Best Regards,
    No, that's not correct... like bcharny says, they merge to form one word. They don't become individual keywords, unless something has changed very recently.

    Quote from the very link you poste "Apostrophes, periods, and underscores are valid characters. However, slashes and hyphens are not and will be stripped from the keyword."

    Bcharny, yes, it's a real pain that dashes disappear. It's been that way for as long as I can remember, and it was a very poor decision on someone's part. Unfortunately, there are a lot of keyword behaviors that are unique to SmugMug and make it incompatible with many many programs and other sites. I know of no other site that gets rid of dashes the way SmugMug does. I don't understand why they have to find ways like this to be unique, because it just creates a mess for everyone.
    Anna Lisa Yoder's Images - http://winsomeworks.com ... Handmade Photo Notecards: http://winsomeworks.etsy.com ... Framed/Matted work: http://anna-lisa-yoder.artistwebsites.com/galleries.html ... Scribbles: http://winsomeworks.blogspot.com
    DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
  • Options
    bcharnybcharny Registered Users Posts: 2 Beginner grinner
    edited November 1, 2013
    No, that's not correct... like bcharny says, they merge to form one word. They don't become individual keywords, unless something has changed very recently.

    Quote from the very link you poste "Apostrophes, periods, and underscores are valid characters. However, slashes and hyphens are not and will be stripped from the keyword."

    Bcharny, yes, it's a real pain that dashes disappear. It's been that way for as long as I can remember, and it was a very poor decision on someone's part. Unfortunately, there are a lot of keyword behaviors that are unique to SmugMug and make it incompatible with many many programs and other sites. I know of no other site that gets rid of dashes the way SmugMug does. I don't understand why they have to find ways like this to be unique, because it just creates a mess for everyone.


    Thank you very much for your replies. I understand that it cannot be done - well, it is an answer that saves me a lot of time trying. Of course I meant "hyphen" not "dash" - you were all too nice to correct me.

    All of it is about the SEO. I have two issues: will Google search find it and will SmugMug search find it?

    Google Search

    Here is what I found (courtesy of www.googleguide.com considering I could not find what Google itself says on the subject):

    When Google encounters a hyphen (–) in a query term, e.g., [ part-time ], it searches for:

    the term with the hyphen, e.g., part-time
    the term without the hyphen, e.g., parttime
    the term with the hyphen replaced by a space, e.g., part time
    [ part-time ] matches “part-time,” “part time,” and “parttime”
    [ part time ] matches “part-time” and “part time”, but
    [ "part time" ] (with quotes) is better for space-separated words

    Thus Google search will find it - I think.

    SmugMug Search

    SmugMug search treats the words entered into the search window differently from the way it treats keyword creation. It will not find the concatenated word that it creates; however, it will find photos that have both parts of the hyphenated word as separate keywords.

    It would be nice if the search looked for concatenated words as well. It would also be nice if such search put photos with hyphenated words on top and then looked for photos that incorporate parts of the word as separate keywords. Now that I understand the process, I know how to search - but for someone from the outside it is a non-obvious step.

    I do realize that these approaches may be embedded rather deeply and cannot be changed easily - but it they can be, it would be a worthwhile improvement.

    For an quick example, try searching for "man-of-war" and for "manofwar" (which will give you what you are looking for).

    My solution is to keep it the way it is:
    1. Use correct hyphenated words in the Lightroom keywords.
    2. Add a hyphenated word in the text accompanying the photo (for SmugMug search).

    Thank you very much again and I would appreciate anyone's comments if something got missed or misinterpreted.

    All in all, SmugMug is great!
Sign In or Register to comment.